Crows in the Jukebox: Poems

by Mike James

Reading Crows in the Jukebox is like driving a race car at qualifying speeds—on a track you’ve never driven before. There are more curves than straightaways in Mike’s James’s poetry, and each new turn brings surprises that are addictive…. Navigating the imagery here is one wild, imaginative ride. —Lee Passarella, author of Redemption

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2017

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike James’s poems are open and accessible, but also deep. I love them. I’ve got little Post-it notes sticking out all over the place. Let me share some of them with you.

He writes clearly and simply of family, love and sorrow, and our “alphabet of wants.” He remarks how “middle age and old age, both surprise us…suddenly a vast rock pile of years.”

He remembers childhood, when the stars…”were our compasses. In those days…we never thought of being lost.” Yet he also reminds us “each mistake’s a blessing to go the other way.”

Just when we settle in to the comfortable storyteller, he swoops in to surprise us with an inspired metaphor. Crows as “a torn black blanket across the sky.” He’s a “skater who endlessly loops/through two mirrored circles/one called infinity/one called again.”

[Joan Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

. Pithy poems that range from tough to touching. James has a clear vision and a voice to match.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another excellent Mike James collection, with his half-Basho reflections and narratives.

My favorites at first reading were:
"What's Done and Not Done" - about drinking in general, and his father in particular [There are a number of Father poems in this volume.]
"Inspiration (In Response to a Questionnaire)" - a writer poem, on where it comes from and how to wait for it
"Marriage Suite" - which is a set of love poems
"Marriage Proposal" subtitled "A Found Poem" on the page - which makes advertising true again
"Why I Meditate" - one of many poems on this subject in the Mike James oeuvre (there's at least one other in this collection), including the line "i sit because in junk shop statues the buddha looks happy"
"My Father Could" - which is an excellent characterization piece, and an icon of family dysfunction, wrapped together nicely.

I've also (without permission) stolen his poem "My Parents" for use in my document for students on why they should lay off the obsessive mentioning of characters eye color, unless that eye color conveys meaning. I tell them that if they aren't getting as much out of eye color as James is, in that poem, then they should leave it the hell alone.

[Cal Nordt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the poetry of Mike James and this book is for every poet and poetry lover. I read it awhile ago and am updating my Books and forgot to write a review but don't have time now. Still, I give it my strongest recommendation for current American poetry.